MUNCIE, Ind. – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team saw its five-match winning streak, and its season, end Sunday night in a 3-0 (15-25, 23-25, 15-25) loss to the Ohio Bobcats in the quarterfinals of the Mid-American Conference Volleyball Championship at Worthen Arena.
 
"Ohio did a good job of staying a step ahead of us," said head coach Ray Gooden following Sunday's quarterfinal. "In each set we had made a run to make it a little bit closer, but we just couldn't get ourselves to the point where we're able to either tie it up or take the lead."
 
Junior outside hitter Kaitlyn Bell (De Soto, Kan./De Soto) led the Huskies with seven kills on the night. Katie Jablonski (Elburn, Ill./New Hampshire) had six kills and five digs. Grace Balensiefer (Lafayette, Ind./McCutcheon) dished out 22 assists while freshman libero Francesca Bertucci (Chicago, Ill./De La Salle) led NIU with 17 digs.
 
Ohio (12-18) raced out to big leads in all three sets. The Bobcats started the match on an 8-3 run with two kills from Maggie Nedoma. NIU used a 3-0 run highlighted by a Bell kill to get within two points at 10-8. Ohio responded with a 6-1 run punctuated by kills from Nedoma and Caroline Clippard to take a 16-9 lead. The Bobcats hit .278 in the set and held NIU to .028 and won it 25-15 on an Olivia Margolies kill.
 
NIU (16-13) fell behind 7-2 to start the second set, but steadily chipped away at the Bobcats advantage. The Huskies were down 15-11 when an Ella Mihacevich (Brunswick, Ohio/Padua Franciscan) kill sparked a 4-1 run that got NIU within one point at 16-15. The two teams traded points up to 22-21 when Ohio got kills from Caroline Clippard and Elizabeth Hoerlein to earn set point at 24-21. NIU made the score 24-23 with kills from Jablonski and Charli Atiemo (Milford, Mich./Farmington Hills Mercy), but Ohio took the set 25-23 on a Nedoma kill to take a 2-0 lead.
 
Just as in set one, Ohio got out to an 8-3 lead to start the third. The Huskies closed the gap to two at 9-7 with a 3-0 run that included an Atiemo ace. NIU was within three points at 15-12 following a Mihacevich kill when Ohio went on an 8-1 run, with six consecutive points, to take a 23-13 lead. The Bobcats hit .367 in the set and won it 25-15 to complete the 3-0 victory.
 
"No matter what time of year you're playing, coming from behind is not always ideal," Gooden said. "Our group kept battling and rallying. We knew we owed Ohio a good match, but credit to Ohio for giving us a little respect and playing a higher level of volleyball than we were able to tonight. It doesn't take away from what we were able to do to get ourselves in this position. We had a really good run at the end of the year after a tough stretch at the beginning and came together as a team."
 
NIU finishes the 2021 season with a 16-13 record. It's the most wins for the Huskies in a season since 2016 when NIU 25-6 and won the MAC regular season and tournament championships.
 
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